Introduction

Hi I try here to translate my German Malphite guide. Hope you can understand my English. In the next 2 days I will try to correct it.

What is Malphite?

Imo, Malphite is the easiest Champ. He doesn't have any skill shoots, small position fails aren't so problematic, his attack animation helps to farm and in mid game he farms with E and W really easy. The most difficult part is how to use your ult??? and even here helps Riot with a big range and high attack movement. This doesn't mean that there aren't good and bad Malphites. He is just easy to learn. There are of course some things you should know.

His job within a team is not as easy to consider. Riot says he is a fighter and not a Tank, but recommends just tank items. The Riot arrangement has always been bad, but in this case it is not easy. At the end of my guide i will mention it again.

Jungle or lane?

As opposed to other champions, both ways can be played. Thats why i will show you both ways. I like the lane way more. At first when should you jungle? The answer to the question is really easy. If you don't have a standard jungler (WW, Rammus, Shaco, Amumu, Nunu, Fiddlesticks, Udyr) or they why ever didn't want to go in the jungle, you should go. Standard jungler> Malphite jungler> no jungler. You also have to reached a summoner lvl. You can't jungle with lvl 1.

Abilities

Because of the passive, Malphite can be a really a good Laner as long you can manage to be harassed while your passive is up and not get harassed while your passive is down. It is important that the creeps don't atk you if your shield is down. Otherwise it wont come back again.

A spell to harass, to do damage and to steal movement. Steal means that u get the speed you steal. Thats why it is really cool for chasing and escaping. You should use your other slow spell immediately following this one.

A genius ult. Great range (the middle of the ult has to be in the range circle and not the whole circle), fast attack movement, a not small damage circle in combination with the best CC in game. It is best to use it in the team fight. In 1on1 and during chase the attack movement should be used (better not to use it if they are in front of you.) next to the CC. If you take it to flee, you did something wrong but not because you take to escape it but because you get into a situation in there you need to use to escape. Better to be living bob then a dead bob. You can also pass through nearly all walls. Only some corners are somehow invincible.

Summoner spells

Nearly each champ should take one movement/chase/escape spell. I mean Ghost or Flash.I recommend always Ghost. Thats so because Malphites only nuke is his ult and this has an incredible range regardless. The rest of the spells are cooler with ghost.

Then you have the choice Smite you need if you wanna jungle. if not you don't take it.

Exhaust is my favorite spell if i go to lane. In ranked games you can see how much exhaust you need and in normal games it is really dump if you don't have min 1 exhaust. It always helps and often one exhaust on the right DD (like tryndamere, yi or fiddle) can change clashes and thus games. With Malphite you come near enough to use exhaust on their range dd.

Teleport to have it min 1 times in team is a nice thing. If you and your mates ward good + you have enough mapawereness you can prevent/get a kill (if you put a ward in the grass they cant see if you teleport to the ward and can gank at the lane) + beeing hole the time at the lane (more important if you are on the solo lane) and in mid game you can destroy/save towers and in late game u can come back fast to the fights.

Ignite is always a nice thing. You can get an additional kill innearly every game, but i would take a different spell that helps my team. Against some champions it is an important spell (like vladimir) but normally there are enough players who takes ignite. Better to save 2 guys then to kill one and the job of a tank is to save and not to kill (ok Malphie isn't just a Tank)

Cleanse If there really is a lot of CC or if u wanna play him in an offensive way and there is much CC

Flash: Coward. The flash/ghost combination is reserved for squishy dds.

the above> heal> clarity>rest. Take one of the above

Runes and masteries

Runeslanejungle
red: magic pen
yellow: mana regeneration/lvl as much as you need + hp/lvl or amor or dodgearmor flat
Blau: magic resistance flat or per lvlmagic resistance per lvl
Lila: live flat (i will see what i do with these patch)

masteries
I play 0/21/9. In the lane i put my point on maareg and in jungle on longer buff.

Items

I have always started with Doran. Doran's items have incredible benefit/cost ratios. The only thing I was thinking about, is Doran's shield or ring. At first glance, Doran's ring seems to be stupid because only Malphies ult and his Q scale with ap but in the beginning we are using just Q to harass and mana regeneration is always good. Doran's shield is of course the classic and is good in any case. After the patch I have to try it first 1 or 2 weeks before I can try to make a recommendation. I think it will be still Dorans, but i am not sure.

Both
[item=Heart of Gold] :an item with an incredible benefit/cost ratio. I wouldn't stack it still and only build it if Randuin's Omen is a goal.
Here ends my core and everything else is more or less situational. Tanks should always base their build decisions on the opponents .To always build the same is stupid. Sometimes I build not even my [item_text=Heart of Gold]. I present here only an example build against a more or less balanced team. Due to its W and E Skill benefits Malphite especially if he gets armor.

1. Shoes: In addition to the standard tank shoes Mercury's Treads and Ninja Tabi, we need to mention Sorcerer's Shoes. Malphie does pretty much magic damage and that is why magic penetration is not bad. Especially when there is not too much CC, it should be taken. Ninjas do not play a role in my no-jungle.

2. Sunfire Cape:Malphie does damage and with sunfire even more damage. He is always in the middle of his enemies by his ult and so the sunfire cape can work. In addition, this is a very good farm item. The sunfire cape makes magic damage and benefits from magic penetration. It also provides armor, which makes his E stronger. It is a core item that I buy almost every game. I just don't buy it always at the same time.

3. Magic resistance Banshee's Veil: It brings mana which you need often, especially if you stop to jungle and have no manaregrunes and hand off the blue buff. If you have very big mana problems you can get an early catalyst or an early sapphire crystal. In a long laning phase, a catalyst can help. Under the protection aspect, it can be said against some opponents (teams), that the unique effect is really important (eg against Malphie, Annie, Veigar). But against others, it is wasted.
or [item=Force of Nature]: I love the speed boost because Malphie has to come close to his opponent to use E and W+ cool livereg and magic resistance
In summary, I would say if you have to decide, base your decision on the above unique effects.

4. Randuin's Omen enhanced HOG + a little bit of cooldown + much armor + live: The active is very good in combination with W and the Ult because you get into the middle of the opponents and armor has increased. The active of randuins increases the difficulty of the skill combined by 33%.

5. Guardian Angel: a lot of nice resistance and Malphie can use the unique in a good way. He is really tough and can escape if he use his Q-Spell. Add to this, if he runs in he could be focused in a heavy way. Even a Malphie can die unless he has a Guardian Angel.

WOW so much money. Take what you want.

Other possible items Aegis of the Legion: I really like this item and against magic-opponent team, I would also recommend it to you especially if you jungle and do not build a HOG. But Malphie benefited less than others from this item. Malphie is too often too far away from his allies and skin-off on one of the opponent's range DD while the rest of the team somewhere else in the battles is or is in the middle of the opponent. In any case, he is often a bit too far from his allies and so not all can benefit from the aura. Supporter or guardian tanks can use it better.

Atma's Impaler: An endgame item which harmonizes properly with the w. Because of Randuins and Q he can keep the enemies close to him and he run into his opponents with his ult. So he is near and can hit and have just 2 spells so also the time to hit. It helps to destroy the towers / inhibitors. If your team is lacking in normal damage, it is a good choice.

Abyssal Scepter: I think Malphite scales really bad with ap. But under certain circumstances, you can play it: 1. you need magic resistance. 2. Your team do a lot of magical damage and can benefit from the magic penetration. 3. you don't have a problem that you don't get so much survival power 4. None of your team members has bought it. However, in general since you cant stack the sunfire cape anymore the item has to be come worser, but its still viable.

Warmog's Armor: Malphite can farm good, but I think it's still not that great. It only brings life and nothing else.

Thornmail: I do not like it. Malphite can not force anyone to attack him and at some point the players understand that Malphite has thornmail. If there are 2+ auto-attack DDs or a big feed it is of course a must have.

Frozen Heart: Most time you have to decide. Either you play it or randuins and I think randuins is better. But it is also a very good item and can be played well and the cd-reduction is more than just nice.

Leviathan: in short, do not buy it. You need 10 stacks that the item is as good as the the belt of the giant and the belt can be developed. Mejas just need 5 stacks to be as good as the other items. So why should you play it? Tanks with Levithian usually play like a coward to save stacks, and last but not least, it is not great to get just life. Only to keep it in mind I repeat me: DO NOT buy it, unless you think that you can get can get 20 stacks.

Other builds/fun builds

First, I think you should build Malphite like a tank and not otherwise. But if you want to try something new or just want to play a fun build, then here are three proposals

I have no problem with rethinking my builds. Perhaps i just do it wrong. But i think just the Tank build and perhaps the ad-jungle build have a future. I just play the tanky way.

Laning-early

We grab our Doran's shield and run as fast as possible into the opponent's bush and wait until the enemy is there and make SOLO a double (or penta) kill. Thanks to Q and Exhaust this should be no problem ......... NO !!!!!! If you play with or against a jungler, you have to guard your jungler or gank the opposite jungler. Malphite is quite strong at the beginning and in the early team fights can play a decisive role. After this we go to our lane. If you still (cuz of lvl) play without a jungler, you should only go in your bush and as fast as possible and hope that the enemy tries to come to you. Only then and with sufficient speed will you have a chance to kill and still come out alive.

Now we come to the question: which lane should it be? There are 3 different ones. The duo outer lane on the Dragon, the solo in the middle lane and the solo lane away from the dragon (if there is no jungler, both outer lanes are duo lanes). Malphite is best suited for solo outer lane. Malphite benefited more than others at the start of early lvl and can easily hold his lane. Therefore, I strongly recommend this Lane. Malphite can run without problems on a duo lane. In the mid-lane, he can play and he can also dominate there, but for other chars is simply more important. The difference between solo mid and solo outer is actually only that the mid lane is much shorter. This makes ganks more difficult, makes the flash better, and enemy killing more difficult. All in all, the lane is safer and simpler to play and should be filled with chars who have more problems in early games and who have bigger problems with ganking and are more farm-dependent. So OUTER LANES> OUTER DUO> SOLO MID

Solo lane

We go after guarding to our solo lane. We have taken Q and Doran. In the beginning, the plan is that we last hit and if the enemy is in range to use our Q to harass. Don't use your E spell on the creeps. You will need your mana. Just use it to protect/keep out of range of your tower. Do only last hits and waste no mana. No matter what happens, you should always have enough mana to use up at least once q and best also e. The point is, if you get ganked, you should have enough mana to escape with Q. And although you can often harass the enemy, killing someone before lvl 6 alone is almost impossible. You lack devastating damage-dealing. It is also difficult to kill Malphite through harrassment because of his passive. It is wise to venture into range of the enemy only when the passiv is up. You should definitely try to keep you and your opponent in your third of the lane and keep the creeps out of your tower range. If the tower attacks, you should know that you can kill casters with 2 strikes and a tower shot (but do not let the towers kill the creeps), or a melee with 2 Tower shots and a hit of you.
Ganks on the Lane: The biggest risk for a solo lane Malphie is not the enemy but the gank of opponents, and the best chance to get a kill is through your jungle. So stay in your third. The ganks for your jungler will be so much easier and for the enemy so much harder. Usually it is easier if the jungler initiate at least before lvl 6, the Jungler can have an important spell on CD and therefore waits. Just use your exhaust after your Q reached your opponent. With the help of ghost, your Q, exhaust and your jungler you have a pretty good chance to kill even if the opponent have flash.

From lvl 6 on, you've got a chance to kill your opponent by yourself, but usually you do not deal enough damage so it is better to save more mana and wait for your jungler to do another gank. Or if you are oom (out of mana), tell your jungler to take the lane and then set yourself back to base. You should buy something (the best min. one ward. They are good) and go gank if your jungler has time/life + you have your ult. Either on the lane where the jungler is, or on another. In both cases, you should have a good chance with your ult to get/create a kill. Then go back to your lane and get again some creep kills. Of course, it's also possible that you get a lot of kills without jungler, but life's no picnic and therefore do not expect too much stupidity from your enemies.

Once the first tower falls or after the first dragon fight, the early game usually ends and the mid/team fight phase can come.

duo lane

Well the duo lane is a solo lane with a second enemy and more important with an ally. The big difference between DD and tanks comes with the time and with the items you choose. I want to say that the difference in the beginning is still relatively low, but Malphite is by his masteries and his passive already tough. You should start playing also in the lane as a tank. You should try to be always between your opponents and your mate so that if they harass they only harass you and if the enemies wanna harass your allies prevent it with Q. Especially important on a duo lane is the teamwork. Try to harass just one champion and check that you and your mate wanna harass the same champion. Just as in the solo lane the ganks are particularly dangerous. Buy wards to prevent being killed. Save your ally and yourself with Q, E and exhaust. Before you try to kill, say it in chat or/and ping it

Junglen

The Malphie jungle way is pretty simple. You start at the blue buff and press E as long untill the golem still have 450 lives. Then use smite. If you're good you kill the small creeps of the blue buff with E. Then lvl up and skill your W (take a correct position to hit all jungle creeps) and run to the wolves-> Witch (lvl 3, E) -> red buff (last hit smite) -> golem (lvl 4: Q). Then go back and buy shoes + ward + pots (or Ninja Tabi). Imo it is the jungler job to ward the dragon. After the patch you didn't have to ward at lvl 4 against the most opponents jungler, but till lvl 5 it should be hole the time warded. Often it is good to get a vision ward. Often it is clever to ward the opponents buffs(depending on enemy jungler at different times).

Gank: Nearly always you should try to gank at lvl 4 but if someone need help or need a gank then you should help there. At lvl 4 you have Q and the red buff. At this point you are a semi-dangerous ganker. He is not as dangerous as Shaco, Rammus or Nunu, but you are much more dangerous then WW.
1. Say in chat where you gank (+say that they shouldn't push)
2. ping
3. Start moving (ghost), q (if the opponent uses ghost before it is more effective ) + w + e + hit hit and try to kill
4. If fail, it is often clever to run away and try again it shortly after this. Most assume that if you leave it is not possible that you can not come back.

If the blue buff remains, you have to jungle again (it is most times better to start the jungling earlier again and kill the small jungle creeps). Then you usually jungle once through the round and takes back the red Buff (always last hit) and gank again with your ult. This gank is much more dangerous, but sometimes the map is too heavy warded. If you notice that your enemies set masses off wards, an oracle can help. After having taken 2 times the buffs you should hand it off to the team mates, who need it more then you.

team fights

Malphite best thing is his initiate. Try to get 2+ dangerous enemies (tanks are also dangerous but not intended). It is best to get from the side bush, but it also works from the front cause of his incredible ult range. Run in press w and then fast E (i know is it a really heavy combination) and if you have press 1 or wherever you have put the active of randiuns (because this was too difficult for me I have laid it on an extra button on my mouse). Up to this point Malphie IMO the best team fight tank. The first 2 seconds are just godlike and the damage is really good. But most of the clashes are not decided, and after this the problem as a tank for Malphie comes: What can I do NOW? How the fuck I stayed focused or in other words how can I get them not to kill my squishes. Malphie has no taunt, no snare, no stun and for the next 98 seconds no knock-up (usually the Clash ends before the 100 sec are over). Only a debuff and a slow (and sometimes still an exhaust or ignite). With the debuff you can still protect against melee auto attack chars, but against others it is difficult. So you can usually do little else than to play like an off-tank and do damage against carries and stand in the way so the enemy can not focus your team.The plan works especially well against range auto attackers who usually have to flee and you can reduce their atk speed if you get near to them. What you usual just get with your ult . Most times it is clever to use Q on your target and attack it. If it works good they attack you also and so your team can kill them (if you didn't went in too early ). Cause of Malphie have relatively little CC, he has a lot of damage for a tank. But the damage is usually not enough to make solo kills. So do not chase too long the range DD. In most cases it is better to stay in fight until the team fight is decided and then begins the chase game. He can play it well thanks to Q. Q-> run to them and when in range press E (don't use it too early !!!!). Even if you are a tank it is not necessarily that you die. If you have only a quarter of your life, you should consider your escape route and move in the direction of your allies. Often, you are being chased which is pretty cool, because the enemies move in the middle of your team. And your team can kill them in an easy way (as long as it is not the tank) and the opponents are distracted. The change of the focus from a to 3 quarters killed char is not very easy. Use this fact.

1on1

Ok it should not happen often but there are sometimes classical 1on1 fights: Fighting until the other dies. Malphite is good in it. Classic 1on1 you can almost just make with melee DPS(damage per second), tank or off-tanks, mages shoot their spells and then they run away and range DDs (Damage Dealer) run always. Alway keep in mind that each 1on1 can become a small team. In principle, it is clever to keep your ult (when the opponent is out of range it is of course not clever). The enemy count usually not that you can save your ult and flees therefore not as fast as, because he thinks he has a chance. Also if only opponents comes, it is an advantage because you can get out with your ult over a wall. Keep always enough mana to use your Q and your ult so that you have a chance to escape.

How to fight against Malphite.

I know myself it's not so clever to mention who to beat Malphite in a Malphite guide, which is why I consider it very short and only say fundamental things. But before you write a Malphite is-op-thread check at least if you aren't the reason that Malphite is op.

1.Dont let him the chance to get 2+ dangerous player with his Ult.
2.After he has used his Ult, he isn't so dangerous anymore: So DON'T FOCUS HIM.
3.Buy ward if you are afraid of his ganks and also buy them if you have no fear.
4.Buy magic resistance. You do not need a lot to reduce his damage very quickly.
5.Buy Banshees Veil. There is nothing worse than for Malphite if his victims buy Banshees Veil. Magic resistance and then the unique. Then Malphie have to wait untill the unique is down, before he can initiate. IT IS SOOOO ANNOYING.
6.Don't do 1on1. There are only a few, who can beat the Malphie in 1on1. Through its atk speed debuff he can even beat many masters of the 1on1.

Some last words

For me is Malphite the first 2 seconds the tank best Tank in game. A perfect initiate, a nice debuff + slow and a lot of damage. What more could you want? But then he slipped IMO to a moderate off-tank because he simply lacks of protection mechanisms. For an off-tank, he is really quiet tough but he has relatively little damage. Compared to real tanks he does a lot of damage.
I hope you liked my guide and you aren't sillier then before. Suggestions for improvements and/or new ideas would be cool.